Operant conditioning Flashcards

Question

What happens when the reinforcement is delayed?

Answer 1

Gradient of delay: The delay decreases the contiguity between response and outcome Temporal contiguity is an important factor in the effectiveness of operant conditioning. This golden retriever’s obedience training will be much more effective if the owner rewards his dog with a treat straight after the desired response The delay decreases the contiguity between response and outcome ¹ Long delays make it difficult for the person/animal to see the relationship between their response and the consequence. ¹ A delay allows time for other behaviours to occur during the interval --> superstitious reinforcement of them. ¹ Deleterious effects of delay can be reduced by providing a signal that the reward is coming i.e. clicker. Much faster responding if less delay

Answer 2

Addiction is linked to the speed of reward • And this is exactly why modern poker machines are much more addictive than older pokies – the “one-armed bandits”. • Modern pokies increase the gambling 'dosage' to much higher levels. • All this speed means more bets, and more bets mean more excitement and more excitement means more dopamine.

Answer 3

• The Reinforcer must be the result of some Response • The greater the consistency between the Reinforcer and the Response, the quicker/more effective the conditioning. GOALS MUST BE SET AND MET BEFORE A REWARD IS GIVEN

Answer 4

A primary reinforcer is a stimulus that is reinforcing even without previous training. Primary reinforcers are biologically relevant stimuli or events i.e. they have survival value. Examples include food, water, and sex. A conditioned reinforcer is an arbitrary event (such as a tone, clicker or token) that increases the frequency of an operant response. Events that have been associated with rewarding experiences acquire reinforcing power. They are reinforcing because they permit an organism to obtain a primary reinforcer.

Answer 5

Conditioned reinforcers: • Tell organism it has done right thing • Tell the organism what to do next • Bridge long periods between unconditioned reinforcers

Answer 6

Conditioned reinforcement Pair a hand-held clicker with food through straightforward classical conditioning. The sound of the clicker can then reinforce other behaviours

Answer 7

- Clickers sound the same no matter how you are feeling when you press it - A clicker is easier to discriminate from everything else we say to the dogs - Split second timing is possible with the clicker thereby reinforcing the precise behaviour. - Using a primary reinforcer, such as food, can cause the dog to become focused on the food, and the food giver, rather than on the behaviour. - The clicker can reinforce the behaviour immediately

Answer 8

A number of variables affect the strength of a secondary reinforcer: 1. The magnitude of the primary reinforcer 2. The number of pairings (with the primary reinforcing) 3. Time elapsing between the presentation of the secondary reinforcer and the primary reinforcer

Answer 9

"reinforcement involves a relation, typically between two responses, one that is being reinforced and another that is responsible for the reinforcement. This leads to the following generalization: Of any two responses, the more probable response will reinforce the less probable one" . This generalization, known as the Premack Principle, is usually stated somewhat more simply: High probability behaviour reinforces low probability behaviour The theory also states that punishment occurs when the instrumental behaviour leads to a less-preferred response

Answer 10

* Chaining refers to a method of teaching a behaviour using behaviour chains. Behaviour chains are sequences of individual behaviours that when linked together form a terminal behaviour. * It involves reinforcing individual responses occurring in a sequence to form a complex behaviour. It is frequently used for training behavioural sequences (or "chains") that are beyond the current repertoire of the learner. * The chain of responses is broken down into small steps using task analysis.Parts of a chain are referred to as links.

Answer 11

Response chain: a sequence of behaviours occurring in a specific order reinforced on the occurrence of the terminal response. Each step in the response chain acts both as a conditioned reinforcer (SR) for the previous step and as a discriminative stimulus (SD) for the next step

Answer 12

a stimulus that indicates whether or not responding will lead to reinforcement

Answer 13

* Forward Chaining: Using forward chaining, the behaviour is taught in its naturally occurring order. * Each step of the sequence is taught and reinforced when completed correctly. Once 1st is mastered --> next step • Backward Chaining: Using backward chaining the learner first performs the final behaviour in the sequence at the predetermined criterion level, reinforcement is delivered. • Next, reinforcement is delivered when the last and the next-to-last behaviours in the sequence are performed to criterion. ― This sequence proceeds backwards through the chain until all the steps in the task analysis have been introduced in reverse order and practiced cumulatively • Both techniques more successful than whole task learning

Answer 14

* Dependent on reinforcement for continued performance. * If a link breaks, all behaviours prior to the broken link will be extinguished. * Each reinforcer does not have equal value. * Responses farthest from reinforcement are the weakest and easiest to extinguish